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September 21, 1777 HORATIO GATES Signed Revolutionary War Autographed Orders !

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September 21, 1777 HORATIO GATES Signed Revolutionary War Autographed Orders !
Autographs
Major General Horatio Gates Signed Revolutionary War Autographed Orders Signed “Horatio Gates / Maj Genl” and “Given at the Camp at Bemis Heights 21st September 1777” A Call for Reinforcements that lead to American Victory at The Battle of Bemis Heights and Saratoga a “Turning Point”
HORATIO GATES (1727-1806). American Major General during the Revolutionary War who took credit for the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga only after General Benedict Arnold, who led the attack, was finally forced from the field when he was shot in the leg and was blamed for the defeat at the Battle of Camden.
September 21, 1777-Dated Revolutionary War Period, Historic Content Battles of Saratoga Autograph Battlefield Orders Written and Signed, “Horatio Gates / Maj.r Genl.”, measuring 7.5” x 7.75”, 1 page, “at the Camp on Beheemis (Bemis) Heights”, (The Battle of Bemis Heights took place October 7, 1777), Very Fine. Major General Gate’s urgent orders fand call for All Militia soldier and Officers as reinforcements during the first phase of the Battle at Saratoga. These military orders read, in full:

“The Bearer Major Robert Cochran is Intrusted with my particular and positive orders to forward to this Camp, all the Militia of the neighbouring Counties in the Eastern States -- and All officers and soldiers on their March from thence are to observe and obey the directions Given them by Major Robert Cochran. Given at the Camp at Beheemis Heights 21st September 1777 --- (Signed) Horatio Gates / Maj.r Genl.”

These important emergency “Orders” were written at Camp during the Battles of Saratoga (September 19th and October 7th, 1777), a major historic military turning point in the Revolutionary War. The American defeat of the superior British army lifted Patriot morale, furthered the hope for Independence, and helped to secure the foreign support needed to win the war. In the aftermath of the Battle of Bemis Heights, some 20,000 American soldiers surrounded Burgoyne’s remaining 5,000 Redcoats at Saratoga. With supplies dwindling, Burgoyne surrendered his forces on October 17. Collectively, the two Battles of Saratoga were seen as a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary War. As a result of the victory, France officially recognized the cause of American independence and began to openly give military assistance to the rebels. Accompanied by a printed transcription of this Revolutionary War battlefield issued document. “Horatio Gates / Maj Genl” Signature is bold and prominent with his large flourish below, measuring a large 3.25” long.


The Battle of Bemis Heights took place October 7, 1777.

In the fall of 1777, British troops commanded by General John Burgoyne were advancing south from Canada towards New York along the water route of Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Hudson River. They clashed with a larger force of American soldiers led by General Horatio Gates at Freeman’s Farm on September 19 in the First Battle of Saratoga, but withdrew after failing to penetrate the American line.

In early July 1777, Burgoyne and some 8,000 Redcoats forced the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. Leaving some 1,000 troops to guard the fort, Burgoyne moved on to the Lake George and Upper Hudson River area, capturing Fort Edward at the end of July and encamping near Saratoga. Just a few miles away, Continental forces under Horatio Gates were assembled, already numbering some 12,000 men. Meanwhile, Howe’s British forces diverged from the original plan, moving south to confront American forces in Pennsylvania.

Despite scoring decisive victories in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown and occupying Philadelphia by the winter of 1777, Howe’s change of plans would leave Burgoyne’s forces in New York exposed and alone, even as General George Washington ordered state and local militias to join the regular Continental army in the region.

On September 19, 1777, Burgoyne’s and Gates’ armies met at Freeman’s Farm, some 10 miles south of Saratoga. When Burgoyne attempted to outflank the rebels, a detachment led by General Benedict Arnold and sharpshooters under General Daniel Morgan inflicted heavy casualties on the British forces; the British lost two men for every American killed. With his men encircled by enemy forces, Burgoyne called on his senior officers for counsel. Though the ones who spoke up advocated retreating towards Canada, Burgoyne went against their advice and ordered another attack, desperately trying to break through Gates’ line and proceed towards Albany.

On the American side, Gates had received even more reinforcements, and rebel soldiers now outnumbered the Redcoats by two to one. On October 7, Burgoyne led 1,500 of his men with 10 artillery pieces on a reconnaissance mission. Scouts brought news of the British approach to Gates, who dispatched a brigade of soldiers to attack the British left, supported by Daniel Morgan’s regiment. The forces met at Bemis Heights, a densely wooded plateau south of Saratoga. Arnold played a major role in the attack, charging to the front and leading the American forces in battle. They drove the British forces back to their camp, again inflicting heavy losses.

On October 7, Burgoyne’s second attack met with a fierce American resistance, spearheaded by Major General Benedict Arnold, in the wooded area of Bemis Heights south of Saratoga. Known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, or the Second Battle of Saratoga, this American victory proved to be a major turning point in the Revolutionary War.

Shortly after the bloody fighting at the Battle of Freeman’s Farm on September 19, 1777, General John Burgoyne wanted to renew his assault on the American position. Before he ordered the assault though, he learned that General Sir Henry Clinton in New York City was going to make a move up the Hudson and attack some of the American forts in the lower Hudson.

While it was unlikely his force would be able to make it up to Saratoga in time to assist Burgoyne, he hoped news of the attack may potentially draw off some of General Horatio Gates’ men from their strong position at Bemis Heights.

Both sides settled into a stalemate at Saratoga which would last for three weeks. During this interlude, there was constant picket and patrol firing between the two armies as neither budged. The British fortified their position at Freeman’s Farm. At Freeman’s Farm, they built the Balcarres redoubt, named after General Lord Balcarres (also known as the Light Infantry Redoubt) and to its right they constructed the Breymann Redoubt named after Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann.

During this time, drama in the American camp threatened chances of an American victory at Saratoga. Gates wrote to the Congress about the action at Freeman’s Farm, but jealously refused to mention Arnold’s name, which led to a heated exchange between the two American generals.

Arnold was also replaced by General Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln, outranked Arnold and was therefore elevated to be Gates' second in command when Lincoln arrived at army headquarters. Arnold had proved to be the most capable officer in Gates’ army, but the two men traded barbs from late September until at least October 1, 1777. Arnold threatened to leave the army, but officers petitioned him to stay.

Horatio Gates (July 26, 1727 - April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battles of Saratoga (1777) and was blamed for the defeat at the Battle of Camden in 1780.

Gates has been described as "one of the Revolution's most controversial military figures" because of his role in the Conway Cabal, which attempted to discredit and replace General George Washington; the battle at Saratoga; and his actions during and after his defeat at Camden.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Bemis Heights, some 20,000 American soldiers surrounded Burgoyne’s remaining 5,000 Redcoats at Saratoga. With supplies dwindling, Burgoyne surrendered his forces on October 17. Collectively, the two Battles of Saratoga were seen as a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary War. As a result of the victory, France officially recognized the cause of American independence and began to openly give military assistance to the rebels.

After the crushing defeat at Saratoga, Burgoyne returned to Britain, and was never given another command. Howe’s forces occupied Philadelphia but failed to deliver a crushing blow against Washington’s troops, who then spent a hard winter at Valley Forge. France officially declared war on Britain in June 1778, and in the fall of 1781, Washington’s Continental Army and French soldiers commanded by General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau moved against British forces at Yorktown, Virginia; a fleet of 36 French warships offshore prevented British reinforcement or evacuation. Britain’s Lord Charles Cornwallis was forced to surrender his entire army, effectively marking the end of the Revolutionary War (though fighting did not officially end until 1783).

Robert Cochran (died-1812), was a Captain among the Green Mountain Boys before the Revolution, and after the “Westminster Massacre,” appeared within forty-eight hours at the head of forty men to fight the cause of the people against the "Court party."

With a file of twenty-five he assisted in conveying the prisoners taken the next day to the jail at Northampton. He was a Captain in the Ticonderoga expedition in the May following, and assisted Warner in the Capture of Crown Point. Cochran afterwards joined Colonel Elmore's regiment, where he held a commission as Captain until July 29th, 1776, when he was promoted to be Major by Resolution of Congress.

The next October we find him on the frontier in Tryon County, N. Y., commanding at Fort Dayton. He served with reputation in the '77 campaign on Gates' staff. He certainly bore dispatches from the general to the committee of safety on the Grants.

The next year he had an adventurous trip to Canada, where he was sent to obtain information of the military situation, and narrowly escaped arrest and execution as a Spy. A large reward was offered for his capture, and he was taken ill while hiding in a brush-heap from his pursuers. Hunger and disease at length compelled him to venture to approach a log cabin, where he heard three men conversing about the reward and planning his capture. When the men left he crawled into the presence of the woman of the house, frankly told her his name and plight, and threw himself on her mercy. She gave him food and a bed, and kept him hid in the house until the men had returned and left again, and then directed him to a place of concealment a little off, and she stealthily fed and nursed him there until he was able to travel, knowing all the time how much money it would be worth to her to betray him. Years afterward he met her and rewarded her generously for her womanly ministration.

In September, 1778, Cochran was in command of Fort Schuyler and did active and efficient work on the frontier. In 1780 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. Cochran came out of the Revolutionary War like most of the heroes who had fought through it... deeply in debt. In the book on the life of Baron Von Steuben, it gives a pathetic account of Cochran's distress, as he viewed the circumstances in which his services to his country had left him and the empty-handedness, with which he must go to the wife and children who were awaiting him in the garret of a wretched tavern. In credit of his human nature, attention must show what man is capable of doing and sacrificing for an idea.

In later years, however, life brought deserved prosperity to Cochran. He lived after the war at Ticonderoga and Sandy Hook, N.Y., dying at the latter place July 3, 1812 at the age of seventy-three, being buried near Fort Edward.
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